Hail, Rain, or Sunshine
by Leiathelady
Summary: A Rose and Scorpius drabble collection going through their years at Hogwarts. Scorose.
1. Meeting

Scorpius was sitting at the foot of his tree in the Forbidden Forest, studying with his papers spread around him in a circle, when he heard snatches of voices in the wind. He immediately tensed. While it was nothing new to hear them coming from the lake, these were much closer. Nobody ever came into this part of the forest; that was the main reason he studied here. After a few moments, his curiosity got the best of him and he listened, soon realizing that they were all first years, same as him. A Ravenclaw boy had lost a bet, and was now required to walk around in the forbidden forest for at least 10 minutes and a Hufflepuff girl had volunteered to go with him, along with two other Gryffindors.

Only they had been out for more than 10 minutes.

If you keep still, you're less likely to be noticed—or at least that's what a book Scorpius had once read said. So he sat still as a stone, save for his chest expanding and shrinking while he waited for the kids to come into view. Once they did, he thought as hard as he could to remember them from the sorting. The Ravenclaw was a big, muscly boy named Ty McLaggen. He was practically trembling, obviously not comfortable with being this deep in the forbidden forest. Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"We're really lost," whispered McLaggen, his voice, though quiet, bounced around the unnaturally still forest. "What do we do? I don't know the way back. I knew I should have told a teacher."

"Relax," a British-Indian Gryffindor boy he remembered was Perri Patil (the alliteration helped) laughed. "This is all good for the species. We are participating in a process called Natural Selection." The other Gryffindor laughed, but the Ravenclaw started crying.

"Hey," the red-haired Hufflepuff snapped at the Gryffindor boys. Rose. That was her name. Rose Weasley. She put her small hand on McLaggen's huge shoulder. "We'll be fine. You're a wizard, one of the clever ones. And you have Perri as your brave Gryffindor minion, my outstanding fabulousness and Albus too, if he's good for anything," she added with a smirk. "We can find our way out of some trees."

McLaggen visibly relaxed, as did a tension previously unnoticed from the rest of the group. Scorpius stared at Rose, in awe of how quickly she could lighten a mood. Scorpius later blamed this stare as the very reason she noticed him that day; she looked around moments after, and practically jumped back in shock at seeing him sitting there on the forest floor.

"Hey," she called, as the other children turned to look at him in a shock not unlike her own.

"Hey," he replied as casually as possible, trying to sound like he had heard nothing and there was really no reason for them to keep interacting with him, but to no avail.

"Do you know how to get back to the castle?" Rose asked politely, as if it were completely normal to be sitting all alone in the Forbidden Forest.

Scorpius quickly and gracelessly gathered his things into his bag and shoved it up next to the tree (for he fully intended to return as soon as he had lead the others out of the forest) before he nodded and wordlessly stood, dusted the dirt off himself and began walking. The others followed, whispering their concerns to each other—all except for Rose, who walked right beside Scorpius.

"It's nice out here, isn't it? Mysterious, quiet. Nice place to think." Scorpius just made a wordless noise of agreement and tried not to look at her.

"There are woods outside my grandparents' house, but not like this. Have you ever seen a forest like this?"

Scorpius had just convinced himself not to go into a full report of all the cool and strange things he'd seen in this forest, and was about to give a terse "no" in response, when Patil piped up from behind that Professor Longbottom once said it contained many powerful and one-of-a-kind plants and that it had a unique ecosystem and even a flying car and Scorpius thought that possibly Patil would have less breath for rambling on if he were, by chance, to be strangled.

Rose commented on how cool she found this information and immediately turned back to Scorpius and asked what his favorite class was.

"Charms," slipped out of his mouth before he could decide not to converse.

"Really?" She smiled like this actually fascinated her. "I'm terrible at charms. Maybe you can tutor me sometime."

Scorpius stared at her. "I do a great memory charm." Seriously, he didn't remember deciding to be friendly.

"My mum says those are hard. She had to do a really big one once, and it took her a whole summer to prepare for it. She never told me what for."

Albus Potter, the small Gryffindor boy he was just now remembering the name of, snuck up behind them to hold Rose's hand. She took it without as much as a falter in step.

"What do you like?" Scorpius spoke thoughtlessly—again.

"I like Defense Against the Dark Arts." Scorpius looked at her in surprise.

"But you're a girl."

"Very well spotted."

Albus made big eyes at him, like he was scared for Scorpius's fate.

"I didn't mean—I guess I just—sorry..." but Rose just laughed.

"It's alright," she said. "I suppose I'll have to get used to that if I want to be an Auror."

"You want to be an Auror?"

"Well I don't wanna be a Blast-Ended Skrewt."

And then it happened. Scorpius smiled. He quickly scowled to make up for the momentary breach.

"I just meant that it doesn't seem—"

And then he had much bigger things to worry about than a smile.

A spider huge as a muggle car appeared hardly 20 feet away from the children. After a split second, Albus shouted "ARANIA EXUMAI!" The spider actually stumbled back a bit—before getting angry and charging.

"ARANIA EXUMAI!" Scorpius and Rose joined in that time, and it flew back about 10 feet into a tree, but quickly got back on its feet.

"ARANIA EXUMAI!" All five children screamed, and the spider shot backwards as if it were tied to a jet until they couldn't see it anymore.

Rose grabbed Scorpius' and Albus' hands, the other two linking themselves to Albus so that they formed a chain as they ran as fast as their legs would carry them back towards the castle. Once they had reached the Quidditch field, they collapsed on the ground, panting like dogs.

"Is everyone okay?" Rose asked in the direction of the sky. Three quiet murmurs of assent answered.

"You?" Something about the way her blue eyes peered into him made Scorpius uncomfortable. He sat up and looked away.

"I'm fine," he said, louder than he intended.

Patil propped himself up. "That was wicked."

"That was terrifying," responded McLaggen as he did the same.

Rose sat up too, dragging Albus with her. "But we're safe. That's what's important. And we just fought off an Acromantula." She giggled. "We're awesome."

Scorpius laughed along with the rest of the group, and Rose smiled approvingly.

"I never caught your name," she said to him.

"Scorpius, Scorpius Malfoy." He held out his hand.

"Oh." Rose looked at him, then his hand, then him again. She tried to smile, but it didn't quite work, and she couldn't bring herself to shake his hand.

Just like that, his good spirits were gone.

He got up and started running back towards the forest.


	2. Rabbit Slippers

Professor Finnegan was away for a conference, so Professor McGonagall was filling in for Double Transfiguration.

"Today's assignment will be completed with a partner"—everyone in the class glanced towards their friends—"of my choosing." Everyone collectively sighed.

"The second name I announce will move to sit with the first, understood? Julia Pan and Colin Graft, Scorpius Malfoy and Rose Weasley, Bailey Hill and..."

Rose moved to sit beside Scorpius Malfoy, who refused to look at her. She should hate him for that, at least, if her father's nearly direct orders weren't enough. But she couldn't bring herself to waste energy on trying.

She started doing the assignment.

"Woah, what are you doing?" Scorpius still didn't look at her, only the rabbit she was chanting at.

"The assignment."

"She hasn't even got to that yet." Professor McGonagall was still calling out names.

"It's on the board." Rose watched Scorpius's eyes glance at the board, which clearly said the incantation.

"There may be some weird twist, like if you say that too many times without dancing a luau, your soul gets stuck inside the body of the rabbit."

"You wanna see me dance a luau?"

"I wanna see you wait for instructions you nitwit, Transfiguration is dangerous."

"I didn't take you for the scared type. Are you always this much of goody-two-shoes, Slytherin?"

"In front of McGonagall? Yes."

"She is pretty scary."

"She's pretty amazing. Imagine commanding that much respect. I'd love to be like her."

"Desires to be an old lady. My, what a friend I've found." Rose smiled at him.

"So you wanna be teacher?"

"No actually, an obliviater." Scorpius, once again, accidentally forgot he was supposed to hate her.

"Oh that's right, you said you were good at obliviating charms." There was an awkward silence, McGonagall reading names in the background. "Forgive me for being intrusive, but I would think you wouldn't have to work. Malfoy family trust and all that."

"I don't for monetary purposes, but," he met her eyes hesitantly. "I think I'd go insane if I didn't work."

"You know, I never thought about that, whether or not I would want to work if I didn't have to. I think I'd be the same. I'd go crazy sitting in a house alone all day."

"You wouldn't be alone though. All those cousins..."

Rose laughed. "True, but I'm trying to think outside my situation." She thought for a moment more. "No, I could never be alone even if I tried."

"Don't."

"What?"

"Don't ever try to be alone."

Rose smiled at him, as if she knew exactly what he meant. "I won't."

"Simply say the incantation on the board and try your best. Good luck."

 **A/N-So here's chapter two. This one's a bit shorter, I know. And I won't be able to post for another week or so, because I'll be out of town. Sorry! But thank you so much to everyone who's favorited-and while I won't begrudge anyone who doesn't like to reply, any feedback is appreciated. Anyway, thanks!**


	3. Potions

It seemed every single second year had put the potions assignment off until the last moment; therefore, every single desk had someone in it. Scorpius couldn't remember the last time he shared a studying table; it fact, he wasn't sure he ever had.

He looked around for someone he didn't hate, and the only person he could find was Rose. And even though he should hate her, he didn't. Maybe he should just find someone else. But everyone else he saw he nearly shuddered at the thought of being within 3 feet of.

So it was that he ended up with a Potions book and paper sitting across from Rose Weasley.

After a while, Rose blew air out of her lips and threw her head back in frustration.

"I hate potions. I'm absolute rubbish at it.

"I swear here and now, with you as my witness, I will never use potions in my professional or personal life."

"Here, if you feel the need to sign something, use the back of my essay, it's not like it's good for anything else."

"I just hate, _hate_ potions beyond all rhyme or reason."

"My dad is great at potions."

"I'll pay him to do mine. I don't have any money, but I can make potholders."

Scorpius snorted. "You think my dad actually cooks?"

"Does your Mom do all the cooking?"

"No...we have a house elf for that."

"Oh. What do your parents do all day?"

"Go on vacations. They like to travel and be far away. They read in their room sometimes too."

"They must miss you a lot with so little to keep them busy."

"They're not really like that. They're really strong."

"Not having feelings doesn't make you strong."

"I, I know that...I just meant, we're not that close...and they're pretty reserved."

"Well...that doesn't mean they don't miss you. I'm sure they do a lot."

"They're good people. Good parents. We love each other and all."

Rose smiled at him. "Every family is different, because love looks different to everyone."

"Who said that?"

"Me. Just now. I'm a human, just like Gandhi. I have every right to say profound things if I want. Nobody has to agree, just like nobody has to agree with Gandhi."

"The only difference between those who quote and those who are quoted is the bravery to believe in your own wisdom. Scorpius Malfoy."

"That's beautiful."

"Thanks, I just combed it." Scorpius flipped the little hair on his head. Rose had trouble controlling her laughter. Her blue eyes got big and she had to cover her mouth with her hands but it didn't stop annoying Bethany Dryes from turning around in saying in that nasally voice of hers that she was glad Rose was enjoying herself, but some people were trying to study, so maybe they could take this someplace else?

"No problem, Bethany," Rose said without so much as a glare at her, Rose had tears in her eyes from laughing too hard that made her eyes bluer than normal. "We were just about to head out anyway. Sorry for disturbing you." Bethany said all was forgiven in a most gracious tone and turned back to her book.

Scorpius gathered his things and started walking towards the doors. Rose scurried up to him.

"Hey, aren't you gonna walk me home?"

"You mean to the Hufflepuff dorms?"

"Well if you can sneak out and find your way to my house I'd like to see that but for now I suppose the dorms will do."

"Would you actually have to sneak out?"

"Unless a guardian came to pick you up."

"That's weird to think about. I can't imagine sneaking out of Hogwarts. Who'd want to leave Hogwarts?"

"I don't know. I guess I wouldn't mind going back more often to see my parents but I love it here."

"Of course you do, you get to gaze at my beautiful hair here." Scorpius flipped his hair overdramatically.

"Oh yes, I needed to see your hair every day, so I begged and begged my parents to let me attend Hogwarts and they almost didn't let me—but in the end they figured I may accidentally pick up an education, you know, between all the hair gazing."

"And have you picked up any education?"

"Well I've learned a lot about your hair."

Now Scorpius had to try to contain his laugh. Until he reached the common room.

"Woah." Scorpius stood in almost marvel of the simplest room in the building. Sunlight streamed in and made the whole patchwork, garden room look sacred. It was literally impossible not to feel at home.

Rose's smile widened. "Don't you love it?"

"It's the exact opposite of the Slytherin common room."

"But you love it."

"It's nice."

"Thank you. I agree."

"You didn't decorate it."

"No, but I like to think my ambiance contributes."

Scorpius snorted. "Okay, well I gotta get back to Gloomsville. See you around."

Rose turned and looked him dead in the eye with a knowing smirk. "See you around, Scorpius."

Scorpius walked away as fast as he could, suddenly very uncomfortable in the light. Why did he always let his guard down with her? He had practically just been flirting with her! Like a common Gryffindor, just here for a good time! Oh, if his dad could see him now...


	4. Hagrid

"Oi! Rose!" Professor Finnegan called across the hallway she was making her way down to the owlery.

"I need you to do me a favor."

"Professor, I'd love to, but now's not really a great time..." She glanced in the direction of the owlery.

"Rose, please?"

"Um..."

"It's Hagrid. He's sick and I meant to go check on him but I've got to attend this meeting with McGonagall, I think I've been invited to another conference, could you check on him?"

"Like I said, now's not really the best time, maybe you could find Albus?"

"He's got Quidditch tryouts. Hey, shouldn't you be there?"

"I'm Hufflepuff, Professor Finnegan, mine aren't until next week."

"Right, right. Anyway, I know Hagrid would love to see you."

Rose sighed. "Of course."

"Brilliant. I guess I can't send you alone, let's see," Professor Finnegan twirled about just in time to see Scorpius turn out of the owlery.

"SCORPIUS!" The professor yelled. Scorpius looked frightened.

"Yes, Professor? Is something wrong?"

"I need you to accompany Rose on an errand she's running for me. Off you go now, give Hagrid my regards." And he ran off around the corner, his head barely missing the wall.

"What are we doing?" asked Scorpius

"Checking on a sick Hagrid. Come on, hurry. I haven't got all day."

Scorpius smiled. "Okay, then."

As they rushed out of the castle towards Hagrid's hut, Scorpius couldn't seem to keep his mouth shut.

"I always seem to get stuck with you."

"Yes, it's very unfortunate."

"Very, I mean, what are the chances you'd be alone and I'd get stuck having to go with you? What are the chances you'd be alone, period?"

Rose let out a sarcastic, one syllable laugh. "I'm having a bad day."

"Aaaw, poor Rose," He meant it sarcastically, but his voice betrayed too much actual feeling. "Tell me about it."

"Girl stuff."

Scorpius stared long and hard at her, confused before it hit him.

"EEEW! GROSS!"

"It's not gross!" She smirked at him, "You should congratulate me."

"Ew, why?"

"I'm a woman now."

"Ew, ew, no thanks." Scorpius walked a little further.

"Aaaaww, don't run away, you're supposed to protect me, where's your chivalry?" She stole his arm and held him obnoxiously close as Scorpius tried to wiggle away. "I'm not Gryffindor for a reason."

Scorpius finally escaped and ran away with a smirk. "WOMAN COOTIES!" he shouted.

"What's that?" asked a bedraggled and very, very sick looking Hagrid.

Neither child realized they had arrived at the hut.

"Hagrid!" cried Rose, looking a little sheepish. "You should be in bed. How are you feeling?

"A'right. I should be teaching tomorrow. What day is tomorrow?"

"Sunday," replied Scorpius.

"Oh! Draco, you're here too. Thought you were scared of these woods."

"I'm Scorpius. And no, I find them fascinating."

"Are you sure? They're dangerous." Hagrid swerved a bit and had to balance himself on a wall.

"Hagrid." Rose tried to sound as firm as possible to a man at the very least four times her size. "You need to lay down. Do you need anything? Do you need us to make you dinner?"

"No, no," Hagrid finally laid down on his bed. "I'm fine, I promise, I just ate dinner, I've got sandwich fixin's I been eating from. You kids go back to class. Professor Snape won't like it when he finds out you left."

"Of course not. Feel better, Hagrid!"

Rose and Scorpius walked out of the hut awkwardly.

"Someone should probably tell Madam Pomfrey that Hagrid is calling you Draco and talking about dead professors."

"I'll go, you take care of your womanly problems." Scorpius smirked knowingly, as if he knew some scandalous secret.

"Really?! Thank you, thank you, thank you, that's such a big relief, thank you." Rose kissed Scorpius's cheek in excitement. Both blushed profusely.

"Okay, somebody is hormonal." Scorpius tried to laugh it off.

"Thank you." Seemed to slip out of Rose's grinning mouth before she could remind herself she'd said that four times.

Scorpius laughed. "No problem, it's not that big a deal."

"Okay but tha-"

Scorpius smothered her words with his hand, "NO! NO MORE GRATITUDE!"

Rose tried to wrestle herself out a bit but Scorpius was stronger than he looked so she had to resort to desperate measures.

"EEEW! DID YOU JUST LICK MY HAND?!"

"You were attacking me!" Rose giggled.

They argued about the definition of "attack" until they found themselves at the top of a hill, which Rose naturally pushed Scorpius down.

"AAAAS YOOOUU WIIIISH."

Rose laughed so hard she ended up falling over and rolling down herself.

"Someone knows their muggle." Rose's insane laugh faded into a calmish giggle as they lay next to each other at the foot of the hill.

"I knew I had to take the class, so I studied over the summer."

"That's one of my favorite muggle movies."

"How do you know so much muggle?"

"My mom."

"Does she miss it?"

"I don't think so, but she likes to show me things, she thinks a lot of muggle arts like novels and movies and music are superior because art comes from living, so wizards have no advantage and muggles have numbers. Does that make sense?"

"I think so."

"We should probably get going."

"Probably."

They slowly pulled themselves off the ground.

"Madam Pomfrey is this way." Scorpius gestured right.

"The owlery is this way."

Rose gestured left.

"Should I ask why you need to go to the owlery?"

"To tell my mom."

"Oh, okay, that makes sense. Well, tell her I say hello." He added with a sarcastic smile.

"I will. See you soon, Scorpius."

"Until then." Scorpius waved and started walking, trying not to look back.

As Rose waltzed to the owlery, she began composing her letter in her mind.

 _Dear Mom,_

 _Scorpius Malfoy says hello. In other news..._


	5. Standing Up

**It occurs to me that I haven't said this yet...**

 **Disclaimer: The setting and majority of characters mentioned in this story belong to J.K. Rowling.**

Scorpius was sitting in a tree studying when he heard Eva Sinclair of Hufflepuff and Rose Weasley walk under him.

"So are you happy for Albus?" asked Eva.

"Of course; it's awesome. I mean, I tried out for the Hufflepuff team but I'm terrible at Quidditch so I'm just glad one of us made it. And seeker! He's becoming an exact replica of Uncle Harry."

"Who wouldn't want to be?"

Rose laughed, but he couldn't get it out of his head that it seemed slightly strained. They also seemed to have conveniently sat under his tree to continue their conversation. "Exactly. And I think it'll help him come out of his shell too. He's so awesome and funny, but really shy around kids he doesn't know. I think this will be good for him."

"You sound like my mom when you talk like that. 'Come out of his shell'. You're like a wise old lady trapped in a 12 year old's body."

"Thank you?" Both girls giggled.

"Oh look, there's the man of the hour. Hey Albus!" yelled Eva.

"Hey Eva!" Albus looked at Rose with sarcastic disdain. "Uugh, what's that?" All three laughed. "Well," said Eva, getting up "I've gotta go reassure the Hufflepuff team. Rose, have fun consorting with the enemy. See ya later Albus."

"Bye!" The cousins yelled in unison.

"So..." Rose said in an insinuating voice. Scorpius couldn't quite see but he was fairly certain they were engaged in a nudge war.

"A second year on the team! And seeker, too! Do you know how rare you are?"

"Dad was on in his first year." Albus looked a bit sheepish.

"Yeah but this is amazing! Don't sell yourself short! You'll be great. I'm worried for Hufflepuff."

"I'm sorry you didn't make it."

"It's not a big deal, we all knew I wasn't that good."

"You've got other talents. Like putting up with people. I don't know how you deal with that snobby Malfoy bugging you all the time. It's the Hufflepuff, I guess."

"He's really not that bad."

"These Hufflepuffs are brainwashing you into loving everyone. It's impressive, to say the least."

"No really, he's funny, and nice when he wants to be."

"So I've just gotta wait for Malfoy to want to be nice. Forgive me for not wetting my pants at the prospect of a new best friend."

Rose sighed. "Don't you have Quidditch practice or something?"

"That I do," chuckled Albus. "See ya later, Rose."

"Congrats again!"

"Thanks!" He yelled back. Scorpius could see people come up to Albus as he made his way to the Quidditch field, looking for a high five or a fist bump and saw that Rose was right; he must have known Eva well because around kids he didn't know, he was timid, and the complete opposite of the sarcastic, confident boy he'd witnessed with Rose.

Rose seemed to have no reason to stay under the tree once all her friends had gone, so she headed back to the castle, humming a slow song as she went.

 _No really, he's funny and nice when he wants to be._ Somehow, the fact that she said it made it true.

She stood up for him. She didn't hate him. To be fair, she'd never acted like she hated him, but it still came as a surprise. He'd never really met anyone that didn't hate him except his parents, and maybe a few teachers.

 **While I'm not going to require them, reviews are appreciated!**


	6. Friends

Professor McGonagall had sent a note home to the families of third years over the summer informing them that they would be covering Voldemort's second rise to power that year in history of magic, so Rose and Albus' parents had taken upon themselves to inform them of their involvement before they had to hear it from Binns, their monotonous history professor.

Rose had been shocked, to say the least. She always knew her family had fought against him, but that they had left Hogwarts 7th year to destroy his horcruxes? (It was hard enough to imagine her mom leaving Hogwarts early at all.) And Uncle Harry was the one that finally killed him? She always thought the scar was a Quidditch accident.

James had approached them afterwards. "Welcome to the club. I need all signatures and weird doohickies of our parents' you can scavenge. I'm selling them on this weird website thing Grandpa showed me. You get 70% on anything you bring." Rose hadn't brought him anything, because frankly that felt a bit weird, but that night Albus asked both his parents to write and sign a note saying he was allowed to take "Care of Magical Creatures", even though Rose knew for a fact a note was not required.

So she knew already when they started going over it, but some of her classmates obviously didn't because after the first day they started treating Albus more like a god than usual, which was saying something—he was the best seeker in a decade, and Rose found herself in more company than normal, to the point where it was a bit suffocating.

And then they got to the point in the unit where Draco Malfoy joined the Death Eaters.

That day was double history with Slytherin, so Rose had a full view of Scorpius in a corner with his head in his hands and the entire class, Slytherin and Hufflepuff alike, glaring at him as if the sins of his father had all been placed on him.

After class was dismissed, everybody stopped looking at Scorpius, only to all flock to Rose to ask more questions about her parents. She saw Scorpius seize the opportunity and nearly flew from the room like a bee.

"Hey, so sorry," she said to the crowd. "I gotta go...bathroom. Bye!"

And she flew from the room like a bee going after its friend.

She found him in a corner with a book on charms pulled out. His face was tight and his eyes didn't move across the page.

"Hey," she said, gently touching his shoulder.

Scorpius looked up at her immediately and all the anger they both half expected to come boiling over at her just didn't come. In fact, the anger faded as he looked at her face.

"It's not as if anyone really talked to me before, anyway. So no loss."

"Did you know?"

"Yeah. He's really sorry about it. Always told me to watch my choices, showed me his dark mark just before I left first year to make sure I remembered. Did you know?"

"Not about your dad."

He groaned. "You must hate me."

"No, I really don't. I know you, and you're not bad. And your dad…well, you just said he was sorry. Those were hard times. He was really young."

"He was as old as your uncle."

"But he didn't have friends."

Scorpius looked straight into her eyes for the longest time and everything was calm and slow and right.

"That's true," he said, eyes locked tight onto hers.

Rose leaned her head back against the wall, all the while refusing to break eye contact.

"We make all the difference to each other, you know? We make each other's worlds. We make each other think, show each other who we are. Friends are a wizard's greatest treasure." She laughed softly. "Rose Weasley."

Scorpius actually smiled a bit.

"We can get matching t-shirts," he murmured, then glued his eyes right back to the same spot on his book.

Rose smiled, and nudged him until he met her eyes again. "Yeah."

They stared at each other, until Rose felt Scorpius slowly drift forward. Her heart started racing, and without knowing at all what was going on, she rested her head on his shoulder, so he couldn't lean any more. She could hear his heartbeat in his neck, it was just as fast as hers. She felt his hand brush hers and somehow they ended up holding each other. Scorpius laid his head on hers. He let out a low, once syllable laugh.

"What?" Rose asked, suddenly worried.

"Nothing," he said, "Treasure makes me think of pirates, so I was picturing you in an eye patch."

Rose laughed so hard her head ended up falling into Scorpius' lap.

"And you! With a parrot following you!" She gasped for air. "Merlin, if it's supposed to be repeating you, that'll be the quietest parrot on the sea!"

She kept on laughing her head off and eventually Scorpius found it contagious.

When the laughter finally died down, Scorpius absently used his free hand to brush a red curl out of Rose's face, his book now on the floor beside him.

Rose's smile lingered, until she suddenly realized what was happening.

Rose shot up, almost knocking heads with Scorpius.

"I should go." She said frantically, as if she may forget if she waited a few more moments to say it. "People will wonder where I am."

"Of course." Scorpius tried to work his face back to its normal bored-looking state. "I'll... See you around Rose."

"See you around," she called back.


	7. Allies

**This is based off that one tumblr post….**

Scorpius was walking back to the dorm after dinner when Angus Brown stopped him.

"You know the new password right?" he asked in undertones.

Scorpius said he didn't—the password had been "cunning" for the last 6 months.

"It's 'Mud-bloods go home.'" He then started to walked away, calm as ever.

"Wait a second, what?!" Scorpius cried. "That's the _password?!_ You've got to be joking!"

"Hey, I don't like it either," Brown said in that seemingly permanent undertone. "But it's not like this is the first time. Mom says that before the battle of Hogwarts, it used to be stuff like that all the time. It's calmed down since then, but I guess something must have made it angry."

"Wonderful," Scorpius grunted, before running in the opposite direction all the way up to the Hufflepuff entrance.

He'd seen Rose do this before. She tapped some barrels, right? He tried his best to recreate the tapping, only to have vinegar fall out of a barrel he hadn't seen on the ceiling and douse him. He shrieked in surprise.

Someone on the inside must have heard him shriek, because Eva Sinclair opened the door cautiously.

Her eyes landed on Scorpius and she tried to stifle her giggle. "Can I help you?"

"Is Rose there?"

"Yeah..." She paused, as if considering her answer. "I'll get her."

When Rose opened the door, she laughed. Long and hard. She was on the floor in tears when it finally occurred to her to ask what he needed.

"Can I just hang out in your common room for a while?"

"Um, sure, I don't see why not. Why do you need to?" Rose let Scorpius help her off the ground.

"Slytherin common room is not an option right now and I need a place to think." Despite everything on his mind, Scorpius still couldn't help marveling at the beauty of the room—the plants, the light, the soft couches—the precise opposite of the Slytherin common room. Scorpius sat on a part of the floor without a rug, trying not to get the vinegar everywhere. Rose sat down beside him.

"Scorpius," she placed her hand on his knee and stared straight into his eyes, not to have her question evaded. "What happened?"

He sighed in resignation. He knew he would have to tell her, but it felt shameful, even if they weren't his own words.

"The Slytherin password. It's-" he took a dramatic breath."'Muggle-borns go home'. Except the word isn't Muggle-borns."

"Merlin, and that's the _password?!"_

"I won't say it. So I need to find a way around it and I just don't want to run into any Slytherins right now."

"Of course. Stay here as long as you need." She paused for a second. "Question. Do you think any of the other Slytherins are opposed to it?"

Scorpius thought about his fellow Slytherins. Were they pompous? Of course. Jerks? For the most part. But bigoted? Not the majority of them.

"Probably," he replied, a little hope tinging his voice.

"Well then there's only one thing to do. Stay here."

Rose went into a girl's dorm for a while as Scorpius awkwardly sat in the common room, trying to will his vinegar smell not to diffuse into the room and ruin the crisp, homey scent it usually had. When she emerged, she just gave him a thumbs up and walked straight over to the 7th year boy's dorm. This time she stood outside the door, so Scorpius could hear what she was saying.

"The Slytherin password is 'Mud-bloods go home'." She said without any greeting. "If any Slytherin needs a place to sleep for the night because they don't wish to make this statement, we should make our common room available. Agreed?" Scorpius heard murmurs of male assent until Patrick Macmillan spoke up.

"But we can't just leave Slytherins in our common room unattended. That's a recipe for ruin."

"Fine, they won't be unattended. Two of you can sleep in the common room with them and one of my girls and I will too."

More grunts of male assent.

"Great. Then it's settled. Tell the rest of the boys. Can I borrow a quill and parchment?"

Rose rushed out to a common room end table a few moments later, scribbled something on the parchment and flew out of the room, parchment in one hand, dragging Scorpius along with the other.

"You'll have to lead me to the Slytherin entrance," she said to Scorpius, almost running down the hall.

She didn't seem interested in conversation outside of "Hurry up!", and "Faster!" as Scorpius led her to the basement, so they power-walked together in missional silence.

When they reached the door, Rose held up the parchment to it a moment before exclaiming, "Tape! I forgot tape! How could I be so stupid?! How am I gonna put it up there?"

Scorpius looked at her with a smirk. As always. "Witch."

Rose looked at him a moment. "Oh!" She giggled. "Right." She performed the fixing charm.

"Professor Finnegan would be proud." said Scorpius, but he didn't know how much he meant it until he read the sign.

 _Any Slytherin who is unbigoted and refuses to say the current Slytherin password is welcome to stay in the Hufflepuff common room as long as necessary._

 _"_ Do you think they'll be able to find the Hufflepuff commons?" she asked nervously.

"I'll leave a Flagrate trail."

"You can do that? How long will it last?"

"You forget Charms is my specialty."

They smiled at each other like idiots.

"Right. Well let's go. It's creepy down here." They started back up, Scorpius leaving a flaming trail behind them.

"Does little Rose need me to hold her hand?"

"I'm fine."

"You're sure?"

"Yes."

"You're positive?"

"Completely."

"Well alright then. Just know, if you feel the need to faint, it's alright. I'm licensed in the art of catching frightened damsels."

"Are you also licensed in being a damsel, or do you keep that on the down low?"

"Down low."

"Wise thinking."

"Yeah the guys would not crown me King of Slytherin if they found out my favorite pass time was fainting dramatically."

"These guys...You think they'll refuse to say that?"

"I don't know how many would _refuse,_ but I think almost all of them will want to avoid it if possible. I think the Hufflepuff commons will be pretty crammed tonight, if that's okay."

"It's perfectly fine. We just don't want anybody forced into saying something against their morals."

"Thank you."

Rose smiled sadly at him.

"No problem."

When they reached the door, Scorpius watched Rose do the tapping thing and shook his head in wonder. 'Just knock' he wrote by the door with his flames.

Inside, they found Eva Sinclair, Jonathan Abbot and Alfred Treaty waiting for them with sleeping bags and a can of Lysol for Scorpius.

"Let's get this party started!" laughed Jonathan, and everyone joined in.

One by one students knocked on the door until almost all of Slytherin was in the Hufflepuff common room. 1st and 2nd years took to sharing sleeping bags. Up to 3 kids were on each couch. Everyone was crammed to the point of physical contact, but nobody seemed to mind.

Rose had the sleeping bag next to Scorpius. "You still smell like vinegar."

"Sorry. I don't know what I was thinking earlier. I was kinda freaked."

Rose laughed. "It's alright. I kinda like the smell of vinegar. It makes me think of Easter. You know, dying eggs with vinegar."

"I've never done that."

"Well, you'll have to come to my house over Easter then."

"I'm sure your dad would love that."

Rose went silent for a moment. "He can deal," she concluded. Then she laughed. "After all, it will be Easter. It seems pretty wrong to murder someone on Easter."

"It seems pretty wrong to murder someone in general."

"Yeah... isn't it weird to think both our parents are murderers? We like to think of them as loving people who raised us, and they are, but they have this whole other side to them—a history, things they're not proud of."

Scorpius chuckled. "The words 'not proud' and my parents don't belong in the same sentence. I know they regret their decisions and allegiance during the war, and they never want me going down that sort of path, but in a weird way, they still have their pride. They like to look forward, I guess."

"Looking forward... so they wouldn't mind if you came to our house to learn about Easter eggs?"

"Probably not. In fact, they'd probably just be glad I have a friend."

"How come I never see you with anyone else?"

"I'm a lone wolf."

"But we're friends."

"You're different."

"How?"

"I don't know, you just are."

"Scorpius?"

"Yeah?"

"You're different too."

"Thanks."

It was dark and almost everyone was asleep by then, and while they were both sleepy, they stayed awake, just staring at each other for a bit.

Scorpius had just worked up his nerve and was about to make sure Rose knew how pretty her eyes were when McGonagall stormed in.

"What is the meaning of this?!"

Scorpius and Rose scrambled up on their feet and some assorted others groggily sat up.

"Professor McGonagall," said Scorpius, now wide awake. "The Slytherin password changed today. It's now "Muggle-borns go home" except not Muggle-borns, if you catch my meaning, Professor."

"What on Earth?! That is unacceptable. I will address the issue immediately. Get your peers up. They will be returning to Slytherin dorms tonight. You could have just alerted me, you know, but, 70 points to Hufflepuff and 1 point for each Slytherin in this common room. She started walking out.

"Oh, and Scorpius?"

"Yes, Professor?"

"What would you have the new password be?"

Scorpius looked at Rose, who was smiling proudly at him. He walked over to the professor, who bent over so that he could whisper it in her ear.

"Allies."

McGonagall smiled and walked out.


	8. Pantry

Rose was in Potions when the alarms went off. Drills had become fairly common since The Battle of Hogwarts, so there was never a blind panic—everyone knew what to do—but something always seemed to go wrong. Every. Single. Drill. Someone would start a fire, just to be funny, a house elf would get his ears stuck in a door way in his haste, Ellis Griffin would finally see Jodie Mason hold hands with Alvin Williams and publicly and loudly break up with her. That had been fun.

Personally, Rose was a little excited for the drill. _I get out of potions at least_ , she thought as she calmly marched down to the kitchens with her class.

The kitchens were the best place to be 'sheltered' during a drill because you got to sneak food to pass the time. It was a game beloved of all Hogwarts students. The only problem was that it got a bit claustrophobic. The system involved cramming too many students and house-elves into that kitchen, large as it may be. At least four classes filed in, and immediately mingled into each other. Meanwhile, Biddy, the smallest, most determined looking house elf Rose had ever seen continued trying to prepare dinner. Rose made her way through the crowd towards her, with the idea of trying to get her relax for the safety of everyone. She finally reached her as the house elf swung a pantry door open, hitting a second year Gryffindor in the head. Rose let his friends crowd around and comfort/tease him and went in after Biddy.

"Biddy?" she called. The pantry was dark, and the only indication Rose had that she was still in the room came from the spirited chef's quiet muttering of"too crowded, maybe Apparating..." The trademark sound accompanied her leave.

"No, please, Biddy?" Though she knew it was useless, Rose waved her arms around a bit madly in an attempt to find her but her hands landed on a boy's chest.

"Easy now," Scorpius snickered, putting his hands on her waist to steady her.

"Oh! Scorpius! How are you? What are you doing here?"

"I was nearby when that boy got hit and I went to go check on him, but he seemed fine and I heard you so I came in to check on you."

"That's a lot of checking."

"Yes it is. I'm all checked out." It may have been dark, but trust me, there was a lot of blushing from both ends because of his poor word choice.

"Well, that's very chivalrous of you."

And then they heard the sounds of a new class coming in and the door closing.

"Oh dear," sighed Rose. Scorpius whispered "Lumos" and used his wand's light to start heading towards the door. Rose's waist felt cold.

Scorpius tried to turn the handle.

"We're locked in." His eyes didn't seem to hold the proper amount of panic for being locked in a pantry.

"Do you think there are rats?" asked Rose, calm as if she were brushing her hair before bed.

"Yes, one's a lovely bloke named Scorpius." He smirked at her. She tried to ignore the swirly, twisty stomach feeling.

Scorpius grabbed her arm and they sat down beside each other against a wall. "Good thing I brought my book." Scorpius held up _To Kill A Mockingbird. "_ We have to read it for Muggle studies."

"How do you like it?"

"Between you and me, it's not as bad as I thought it would be. In fact, I'm actually enjoying it."

"Good to hear."

"You know what kinda sucks?" Scorpius laid his still glowing wand on the floor in front of them.

"What?"

"We only get to read good books once. I mean, we can reread them, but it's not the same, cause you already know what's gonna happen."

"I hate that."

"Can you keep a secret?" Scorpius leaned towards her on his side so that if someone were to startle him, he would fall right on top of Rose, who laughed a bit and nodded, trying hard as she could to act casual.

"I've been thinking, it would be completely possible to Obliviate oneself for things like this. I could erase my own memory of reading my favorite books, and just leave myself a note of some sort to read them."

"Wouldn't that be dangerous?"

"Yeah, but it would also be wicked cool." Rose had the delusional idea that Scorpius' dimpled grin could light up the pantry just fine and really, they didn't need his wand at all. Who needed light anyway? She bit her lip to bring her focus back. Scorpius's eyes flickered down.

"You should also write down how many times you've read each one, I think that'd drive you crazy not to know." Rose could see Scorpius' teeth now, he was grinning so wide.

"I could do it for you too if you want. What's your favorite book?"

Rose's heart was beating extraordinarily fast for someone completely unafraid of the dark. "The Perks of Being a Wallflower."

"But that's muggle." He didn't have to make it sound so flipping scandalous.

She thought, _My mom showed it to me._ She said, "You don't know everything about me."

There was a moment or two of silence during which Scorpius' face hovered just a few inches away from hers.

"Besides," she said in a startle, and Scorpius slowly eased back with a blush that Rose couldn't see. "I don't think I want my memories tampered with. It's just a little weird. You be sure to be careful when you do that."

"Of course, Caution is my middle name."

"Obviously, Scorpius Hyperion."

"How do you know my middle name?"

"I'm...very attentive." It was now Rose's turn to blush.

"Of course you are." There he went with that grin again. "Rose Hermione."

"So we have attentiveness-attentivity? A trait of being attentive-in common."

"Bit flustered, are we?"

"It's dark."

"Mmhm."

"What do you mean by that?!"

"Where is the ginger?!" That was Biddy. She had finally Apparated back.

Rose sprung up. "Biddy! You should rest, dinner will be late tonight. We don't want the food to end up cold. Don't argue with me, now. You know I'm right. Now Biddy, do you have the keys? Would you mind letting us out?"

A disgruntled Biddy ended up opening the pantry door to let them out just as the students started filing back to class.

"See you later," Scorpius whispered before following his class back to Divination. "If I forget who I am, you're responsible for telling Madam Pomfrey what happened."

And then he was gone and Rose's side was cold.


	9. Rain

The ground beneath Scorpius's feet literally shook from the thunder and every few seconds lightning would make the world as white as Scorpius imagined death would be. But what really scared him was the figure he saw between the flashes, sitting on the wet grass, red hair soaked.

"What are you doing? Get inside, it's dangerous out here!" He shouted across the field, now running as fast as he trusted himself to on the slippery ground.

Rose's gaze on the distant lake broke and she smiled to see the pale boy approaching. "Exactly why you should be inside."

Scorpius sighed overdramatically, even though he really was a tad worried. "Well I should at least keep you from dying alone," he replied as he sat down beside her, his robes getting horribly muddy and wet. Grins lit up both faces like the surrounding lightning lit the sky.

"So why are you here?" she asked as they stared at the dancing lake.

"The world does this without anyone telling it to. Nobody can control it. It just does all these powerful things because it feels like it. No matter what anyone else wants, if the sky wants to storm, it storms. I guess I just like watching it."

Rose wanted to look at him, but she just nodded to the distance.

"Why are you here?" Scorpius murmured between thunders after a while.

"It makes me feel alive. It makes me feel Gryffindor."

Scorpius accidentally glanced at her and their eyes met briefly before fleeing back to the water. "Do you regret being Hufflepuff?"

"It's hard to say. I'm not sure _regret_ is the right word. My life would be totally different if I wasn't. I love my roommates and Hufflepuff is nothing to be ashamed of, but..." She tried to keep her voice light. "It's hard not to feel weird, like nobody quite understands me. Like I'm a disappointment."

Scorpius practically scoffed as he turned to her. "You realize you're beautiful, right?" He knew his eyes were as wide as hers but words kept spilling out of him. "I don't just mean on the outside either. Your entire being is a masterpiece. You bring light everywhere and make people happy all day long, without even thinking about it. Do you know how powerful you are? Your parents are amazing people but they already exist. You don't need to recreate them. We only have one life, you know? We should live it how we want and not how our parents wa—"

Scorpius may not have ever been kissed before, but he had seen a few kisses in his time and knew they usually started off nervous and gentle.

That was not how Rose kissed. She knew exactly what she wanted.

Scorpius kept expecting some great roll of thunder or flash of lighting to make her realize what she was doing and leap back, but they just kept on kissing until the sun came out and Scorpius found Rose cradled in his lap with his arms around her.

Rose smirked up at him, obviously very happy with what had just occurred.

Scorpius grinned softly, and it was all his inner turmoil would allow him to do. It felt like someone had taken a dagger and slashed his insides to shreds. Because he may have known he liked Rose but he never knew it could make him feel like _this._ He didn't know how it was possible to feel like _this_. _This_ was dangerous.

He sat still a moment, trying to take in every last bit of Rose, because he wasn't sure how long it would be until he'd be brave enough to let himself get caught here again, and kissed her softly one more time before whispering "We should go," in a tense voice, carefully helping her off the ground and running as fast as he could, his shoes slipping on the new mud and soiled robes dragging heavily around him. And even though he almost tripped several times, he wouldn't allow himself to look back.


	10. Intercalary

**This one's a bit shorter...**

Rose was in double Herbology, not thinking at all about the closest relative of a mandrake.

Rose had been partnered with Eva Sinclair, who was indeed one of her best friends, but that wasn't what upset her. Normally when they picked partners, she would determinedly look across the room at nothing so that everyone assumed she had a partner in mind and not ask her so that she would 'accidentally' end up one of the last two partner-less, the other always Scorpius. Today, Scorpius had turned straight to Craig Marshall for a partner. Poor Eva was stuck doing almost the entire assignment as Rose stared at Scorpius, his face unsmiling, as it usually was in public.

He hadn't so much as looked at her in a week and a half.

 _Typical Slytherin,_ she thought, but in reality, she wasn't all that mad at him. She always found it hard to be mad at him, for she saw through him much too well. She saw how scared his scowl was.

Still, this had gone on far too long.

She wanted to see him smile. She wanted to smile herself, without having to try.

The only time she smiled naturally these days was when she first woke up, rolled out of bed, glanced in the mirror the girls had hung in the dorm and heard Scorpius's voice.

 _You know you're beautiful, right?_ She would feel his lips through her mind and then she'd remember it ending with him running. That concluded her natural smiling for the day.

Her friends noticed, of course, but she just said she was tired and they fell for it. So she was left in peace to think about whether Scorpius' friends were asking him if he was okay, then remember what he'd said that one night in the Hufflepuff dorm. _I'm a lone wolf; you're different._ She'd think about when he'd said they should get matching t-shirts with her quote on them.

She couldn't go on like this. She'd say something. One way or another, this had to end.


	11. Confront

**I meant to post yesterday but FanFiction wouldn't let me access my account. Anyone else get that problem?**

 **Warning: This chapter'll mess with your feels...**

It was pretty outside. Beautiful. Otherwise, Scorpius would still be inside, as he had been for the past two weeks. Anytime it was so much as cloudy, he wouldn't leave the safety of the basement. He hadn't gone out at all, excluding when he had to race across the grounds to get to Herbology. He even missed the Gryffindor vs. Slytherin game, in which Gryffindor beat Slytherin so roundly that the entire house had moped for the entire week following.

He was trying to detox himself. He couldn't go outside without thinking about _it._

He tried determinedly thinking about whether Slytherin ever had a chance at winning a game while Gryffindor had Albus, but Albus made him think about _her,_ which swiftly led to thinking about _it._

 _Grass. Grass is green,_ he tried to recover. _Slytherin is green. And also silver. Like the earrings Rose was wearing yesterday._

 _Bloody hell._ He tried looking around for something to distract him but soon realized he was in the exact field where _it_ had happened. This outing had been a complete and utter failure. He was about to run for the closest exit he hadn't used _that_ day when the worst thing that could've possibly happened, (surprise, surprise), happened.

He felt a small hand on his arm.

"Scorpius?" she said, "Don't run away." She knew him too well.

Scorpius turned around, but couldn't meet her eyes. He stared at the back of his hand.

"Scorpius." Frustration began creeping into her voice. "Stop pretending it didn't happen and that you didn't like it. I get you better than I get most of my family members. I get you better than I get myself, so I know you liked it. You get me better than most of my family members. You get me better than I get myself, so you know I liked it. Stop running. Why are we torturing ourselves?"

"Because," Scorpius muttered to his hand. "It can't work, and you know that."

"Why not?"

Scorpius finally met her eyes. His stomach turned at the blue that meant _her,_ but the anger kept him there. "Because I am a snooty, closed-off Slytherin, Rose. You are a beautiful, golden-hearted Hufflepuff. People love you and hate me. We don't belong together. And if that isn't enough," he snorted, "you're a Weasley and I'm a Malfoy. No matter how you spin it, we can't work. We can't be together. If we try, everyone will get hurt. So let's not try."

They stared each other, like always, but now, their anger at the universe couldn't be calmed just because they were together.

"We're worth it, Scorpius. You're worth any hurt to me. What we are to other people doesn't matter. We do belong together. We both know it, we've belonged together since first year in that forest. I knew when you smiled. Merlin, Scorpius, you have the best smile. You haven't smiled in two weeks and it sucks. If you would just—"

Scorpius kissed her, like he wanted to for years. Until Rose's fingers were playing with his hair and his arms were wrapped around her waist and the mind he'd so frantically tried to direct away from all thoughts of Rose became consumed by them.

Rose pulled away reluctantly. "Take me to Hogsmeade this weekend?"

Scorpius smiled before going in for another sweet, soft kiss. "I'd love to," he whispered, and pulled away. "Obliviate."

"Oh, hey Scorpius," Rose said, looking confused.

Scorpius had completed his first wandless spell.

"Hey, Rose. You alright there? That was a bad fall." Scorpius unwound his arms from her waist. It took her a moment to remember how to stand.

"I fell?" she laughed. "I can't remember how I got out here. I must have been really distracted."

"Yeah. If you're okay, I need to be going. Have a good day." The politeness sounded foreign and stiff even to Scorpius.

"Yeah, see you later."

Scorpius walked away without looking back. Now Rose wouldn't have to, as she said, 'torture herself' thinking about _it._ Only him.

 _I should get inside._


	12. Sleep Deprived

Sometimes when a lot or nothing happened in a week or she was looking forward to something, time would go by really fast, her memory getting kinda hazy.

This was different.

She could barely remember the last two weeks. Sure, she remembered her potions homework (which she still didn't understand at all), but she didn't remember what she had thought about after she got the potions homework, or what she thought about after that. Everything was a bit of a blur, and some of it a complete blank. It was as if she'd just been going through the motions for half the month of April.

Her friends said she'd been tired, but she'd been thoroughly sleep deprived before and this felt very different.

And on top of it all, Scorpius was acting weird. He wouldn't so much as look at her. He ducked away each time she tried to talk and he looked more miserable than usual. She never saw him studying in a tree anymore. She never saw him outside at all.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the shouts of James and Fred.

"ROSE!" They sprinted through, each grabbing one of her arms and dragging her away at top speed.

Once they'd made it to a hallway far enough away, they let her go.

"What were you doing by the Slytherin commons?" asked Fred, as if proximity to anything Slytherin was insane.

"None of your business."

"Saucy, are we?" James made a face.

"You don't wanna be near there," Fred said.

"It's about to get sticky," explained James.

"Really sticky," Fred concluded, before they both burst out laughing.

Rose stood with her arms crossed, entirely unamused.

"Hey," James said, beginning to come to his senses. "Where's your entourage? You're never alone."

"I just didn't feel well. There's nothing wrong with me wanting to be alone for a while."

Fred and James looked at each other.

"Oh dear," said Fred.

"It's a boy," continued James.

"You don't think?" asked Fred.

"A Slytherin boy?" asked James.

"Oh dear," said Fred.

They turned to her, distressed.

"You have to reconsider. Whoever he is, he can't be worth it. He's Slytherin," pleaded James, as if being Slytherin was a perfectly good excuse for avoidance.

"Shut up. It's not a boy."

Her cousins turned to each other.

"I don't believe her," said James.

"Not a moment."

"That's exactly what girls look like after they've spent time in a closet with me."

"I believe you're thinking about girls after a closet escapade with _me._

She ignored them as they began arguing, her mind traveling down a different path. Was it a boy? Why was she by Slytherin anyway? She had just been walking mindlessly and she'd ended up walking to Scorpius. But that was ridiculous. She and Scorpius were just good friends. _Keep telling yourself that,_ whispered a voice in the back of her head.

"See?" Fred began after they finished trash-talking each other's skills with females. "We're making our own point. Guys are idiots. And we're Gryffindor. Just imagine a Slytherin. You're better off with a cat." And on that note, they linked their arms to hers and began skipping her to Hufflepuff.

"Feel better?" asked James once they reached the circular door to the Hufflepuff dorms.

"Sure," she answered. Anything for a quiet moment.

"Good. Remember, hoes before bros."

"Whatever you say."

"Fred, I do rather fancy this skipping thing."

"I couldn't agree more." Fred let her go and looped his arm through James'. "Shall we be off?"

"See you later Rose!"

And so they left Rose to her lonesome standing outside the Hufflepuff commons, telling her feet not to go back down to the basement.


	13. Hogwarts

**I just want to give a quick thank you to everyone who's favorited/followed/commented! Y'all are great!**

"Isn't it weird to think we're fifth years? It feels like we should still be little second years, right?" Eva asked the crowded train compartment.

"Totally," a distracted Rose added to the other murmurs of assent as she tried to discreetly catch a glimpse of the person lurking outside the door.

 _Crap,_ he thought, _she's gonna come out._ And because of Murphy's law, she did.

"Hi," he said, trying not to blush too obviously.

"Hey, I missed you this summer."

"Yeah? I missed you too."

 _There, that should be enough to keep you awake for the next year. Now get going._

Rose laid her hand on his arm.

"So what's up?" she asked, clearly wondering why he was lurking.

Scorpius thought for a moment before giving in.

"Do you wanna go check out the snack storage room with me?"

It was a blatant invitation. That was the most common place for couples to exchange heartfelt greetings on the Hogwarts Express. Even the historical Teddy Lupin and Victoire Weasley had snogged there consistently.

Rose looked at him curiously. "Yeah, I'd like that."

He nodded. "Meet me there in a few minutes."

Rose ducked back in. Scorpius tried to walk casually to the back of the train and slip in the closet when nobody was looking.

He leaned against a wall and waited. What if she didn't show up? What if she did? There wasn't a plan at all, except kiss her like he'd been thinking about doing all summer.

When she finally slipped in a mere but eternal two minutes later, she surprised him by kissing him before he could even get off the wall.

"Not that I mind, but I meant for you to wait a bit longer. We don't want your cousins getting suspicious," he murmured between kisses.

"Would you have preferred I come later?" She replied a few kisses later, now the one against a wall.

Scorpius laughed. "Definitely not."

"We're lucky it was empty," she whispered.

"I may have charmed the lock so only we could get in."

Rose giggled. "Clever."

"Hey, Rose," he straightened up slightly so he could look in her eyes for a moment. She smiled at him. "You were the only thing I could think about this summer."

She kissed him softly. "I kept wanting to owl you, but I didn't know what I was supposed to say."

"You weren't _supposed_ to say anything. You could have said whatever you wanted. You could have said you loved circus animals because they made bananas do geometry and I would have slept with it under my pillow."

"Would you have responded?"

"Yes. I would have sent you a long letter about what I had for lunch and how pretty your eyes are and I wouldn't have cared if your dad or my dad or the minister of magic read it."

"And I would have slept with it under my pillow." They kissed a bit more.

"Scorpius?" Rose pulled back hesitantly.

"Yeah?"

"What now?"

"We're still kissing." he went to her neck.

"I know, and I love that, believe me." She laughed a little and kissed him again to prove her point. "But I mean now as in after. Are we dating? Is it a secret?"

"Do you think we could?"

"I think so. It may be hard. And awkward. We may make some people angry. But—"

Scorpius kissed her long and hard.

"Rose." He said after a while. "I don't wanna make anyone angry. You deserve better. I'm going to do the right and proper thing, okay? This has been the best twenty minutes of my life. Obliviate."


	14. Grease

Rose almost liked pretending to be a bad kid. She propped her feet up on the desk she had been assigned to for detention. Put a toothpick in her mouth like a cigarette. She had her imaginary cool person act together perfectly until Scorpius walked in.

She shot up, throwing her legs down while Scorpius just gave her that smirk of his.

"What are you doing in detention?" he asked.

"Jannette's boyfriend broke up with her and she was crying in a bathroom; I had to skip Transfiguration to comfort her."

"Typical."

"Which part?"

"All of it." He took a toothpick from the little box on the teacher's desk and put his feet up, imitating her previous position. "I knew they wouldn't last," he said thoughtfully.

"Me too. It was too...shallow."

"Easy."

"Yeah, like there was no opposition to them hooking up, so they just did. A good love's gotta be worth fighting for."

"Exactly." Scorpius chewed his toothpick and stared at the poster advertising the upcoming winter ball, suddenly very done with this conversation.

Rose wasn't. "And they didn't even know each other, you know? Knowing stuff about a person doesn't mean you know the person. You need both, I think."

"Still, it's sad that it didn't work out."

"It's sad that they're sad. But it wasn't gonna work out in the long run, so the sooner it ended the better."

"Bit wise for you, don't you think?"

"What do you mean?"

"I just mean you've never been in a relationship, so how do you know what's best?"

Rose just smiled. "I don't know, I guess I don't. I like to think stuff like that is ingrained in you, but it's obviously not since stuff like that happens."

"That came out wrong, by the way."

"I know. Anyway, why are you in detention? It's not like you to get caught," she winked at him conspiratorially and he looked vaguely unsettled.

"I forgot too much potions homework and the professor got mad and gave me detention."

"That's not like you."

"Yeah, well, I have more important things on my mind than potions homework, so he can deal with it."

"Hear hear."

Scorpius couldn't help smiling at her as she coolly lifted her toothpick and flashed a flirty smile. It was blatant sarcasm, but Rose could tell it still kinda drove him insane.

Slowly, he got out of his seat. She eyed him with little smirk.

"Whatcha doin'?" she asked in the most sarcastically innocent voice she could muster.

"Not potions homework." He whispered as he slipped in the chair- clearly built for one- with her. There wasn't enough room, so Scorpius gently eased her onto his lap.

"Well that's a shame," she whispered back, not minding this in the slightest. "You may end up stuck in detention again."

"Will you be here too?"

"Hmm, that depends." Their noses were touching.

"On what?" Scorpius already seemed out of breath and Rose hadn't even started yet.

"How this detention goes." And then she kissed him. He still had the mocking toothpick in his mouth, so she stole it with her lips and spit it on the floor. She let her fingers play with his nearly white hair like they'd always wanted to. She felt his hand on her waist, holding on for dear life, his other tangled in her hair after mere seconds, because hair like hers was easy to get tangled in. All 4 of their legs were on the same side of the chair, and Scorpius looped one of his around one of hers. Rose went to drawing circles at the nape of his neck and Scorpius started frantically kissing her neck, starting with the top, the side until his lips were almost at her back.

"How's it going so far?" Scorpius whispered right in her ear before nipping at it. She pressed herself closer to him.

"I give it a nine out of ten."

Scorpius laughed and Rose could feel it on her collerbone, which was the next thing he went to kissing.

"Should I be offended?"

"Just leaving room for improvement. I wouldn't want this to be best detention I ever have."

"Good thinking."

"Mine usually is."

"Good, because I can't right now, so one of us should think good."

"That's not grammatically correct."

"I'll shoot myself for it tomorrow. Not right now."

"No, don't do that, so much talent to waste..."

"I assume you mean at charms?"

"Charms is one way to put it..."

Scorpius went back to kissing her lips.

"You've got talent too, by the way."

"Thank you. You know they say there's no greater joy than sharing your gifts."

"Just don't go sharing them too much."

"I don't plan to. I'll keep my sharing to one other talented soul."

Scorpius beamed for a moment before his eyes widened.

"What was I thinking?" he murmured.

Rose was confused, and more than a little hurt. Did he not want this? Was this some kind of fling? But she knew him too well, and she was sure he'd never do that, not to her.

"I'm so sorry, Rose," he whispered. He kissed her hard, before sliding away. "Obliviate."

Scorpius was on the ground. Why was he on the ground? When had he come in? Where did her toothpick go?

"You dropped your toothpicks," Scorpius said with a weird smile as he held up two toothpicks. He tossed them in the trashcan.

"Goal!" Rose cheered shakily. She had that weird hazy feeling again. Maybe she had a brain tumor? This was getting to be a problem she should look into.


	15. Obliviate

**Thank you so much to everyone who has read/favorited/followed/reviewed! You guys are all wonderful. (This is the last obliviate scene I promise.)**

Scorpius had shoved the machine on the other side of the room. They were about to start the unit on muggle music, which was completely pointless to study, and his homework was to listen to the song Professor Dawning had assigned and compare it to wizard music. But he didn't feel like doing the stupid project right then. He could be reading _To Kill a Mockingbird_ for the 39th time. Which, admittedly, had been the plan until Vinton strutted into the dorm and began loudly and vividly describing his date with Carol Notwix to Bernie. It seemed the only way he could escape the unnecessarily detailed description of how Carol kisses was to find a way to block out his ears to the sound.

Scorpius stormed across the room, grabbed the machine and flopped onto his bed. He pressed the button as the professor had shown them, but nothing happened. He was about to throw it across the room because he doesn't feel like dealing with this right then when he remembered he was supposed to put the squishy things at the end of the strings in his ears. Muggles were so strange.

The song started with just guitars, shouts, and singing. Nothing exceptional. But as he listened, he began to feel like the voice was singing right at him, in his head, to the point where it got tangled and confused with his own.

" _I belong with you, you belong with me my sweetheart,_ " he felt himself mouth. He had the urge to scrawl these words down his arm, write Rose's name all around them, maybe even try to draw her eyes.

Merlin, this song made him think of Rose. As if she were tangled up with the voice in his head too. He felt a determination seep over to him, and he felt tired of running, tired of not feeling. So when the song ended, he pressed the button again, and again, and again until he planted his feet on the ground and set off, machine left on the bed but the song still playing in his head.

" _I've been trying to do it right,_ " he mouthed down a hallway.

" _I've been living a lonely life,_ " he hummed, his feet in time.

" _Sleeping in my bed_." He hoped Rose was in the library and not off with a friend. She always seemed to be doing one or the other.

" _So show me family, or the blood that I would bleed."_ He imagined how it would feel to say those words to his dad.

" _I don't know where I belong, I don't know where I went wrong_." Merlin, he wanted to scream _those_ words at the top of his lungs.

By this point be was mumbling the lyrics under his breath.

"I belong with-" and then he saw her across the hallway with a couple of Ravenclaw boys. He was struck by the movie-like cascade of the window light on her hair, and between that and the chorus of the song Scorpius found himself shouting a little louder than intended.

"Rose!" he yelled from across the hallway, a grin splitting his face, his hand drumming on his thigh.

Rose looked startled—mainly by his public smile—but she matched it all the same, naturally as ever. She waved goodbye to the Ravenclaws and walked over to him.

"Hey Scorpius, how are you?" she said, a giggle tinging the edge of her voice.

"I'm fantastic," he said as grabbed her arm and pulled her along back in the direction he came, eyes a little wild. "You weren't going anywhere important, were you?"

Rose shook her head, not appearing to mind the dragging. She simply raised her eyebrows as Scorpius opened the door to the janitor's closet.

"Good," he murmured, waiting only a second before kissing her.

They were in that closet for a while, until Scorpius finally found his nerve.

"Rose?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

"What?! Are you—"

"Stupify," he whispered, catching her as she fell. He tried to concentrate on the spell but every time he attempted to focus on what she needed to forget, he got distracted by the stupid _feelings_.

How her mouth felt. Her voice. The way her eyes looked right before he said it—mischievous, excited, happy. Her eyes right after he said it—confused, shocked, affectionate.

 _Get it together, Scorpius._

"Obliviate," he whispered, and sank to the ground, Rose still in his arms. He leaned her against the adjacent closet wall.

That was one more memory he'd have to keep secret the rest of his life, and it was one of the best he'd experienced. That was also one more memory he'd stolen from Rose, although it surely didn't mean as much to her as it did to him. It was still her memory, and he couldn't help feel the added guilt from all he had stolen from her so far.

"I'm sorry," he whispered to Rose, even though she couldn't hear him.

Where was he supposed to go from here? He couldn't keep doing this, and it was clear he wasn't going to get over her any time soon, as he originally thought. It wasn't likely Rose was going to stay single much longer. In fact, it wasn't likely she'd stay single for the next month, what with the ball coming up. He'd have to respect that, and how was he supposed to go on without her, now that he'd begun?

 _Maybe she'll wait for you,_ whispered a small voice. He couldn't really deny that she must like him—she had kissed him, several times. And she'd mentioned dating before. Her reciprocating his affections wasn't the problem.

Now that he thought about it, what was the problem? What was he so scared of he kept obliviating Rose rather than attempting a normal relationship?

He could survive any teasing his peers would dish out.

This was worth any torture his father or hers would put him through.

Was he scared of the ending? Yes, he was definitely terrified of losing her. But not nearly as terrified as he was of loving her.

He loved her. And he could hardly keep himself from storming across the castle and kidnapping her to a closet as it was. If he actually gave her a chance to love him in return…he'd be out of control. That was hardly proper behavior, especially for a Malfoy.

His dad raised him better than that.

So he checked to make sure the coast was clear, carried the unconscious Rose to the door of Hufflepuff and waited in the shadows until one of her housemates found her.


	16. Possession

**I'm so sorry I missed last week, guys! School picked up, and I kept forgetting to post...**

 **This chapter's shorter, too, but I promise to try not to miss another update!**

Rose saw Scorpius walk into the library and tried to distract herself from the book in front of her by waving him over. He came, but with a confusing amount of caution.

"Can I help you?" he asked, not sitting down.

She shrugged. "We just never talk anymore. What's up?"

"Not much."

"You taking anyone to the winter dance?"

"Nope."

Rose smiled.

Scorpius looked on edge. "Why? Are you?"

"Me? Oh no, not me, I'm free as a bird." She found herself grinning largely, although she couldn't quite understand why she was so happy at this turn of events.

"Right." Curiosity got the best of Scorpius. "What are you reading?"

"Oh," Rose looked at the book in front of her and blushed. " _Possession and the Art of Identifying It_ ," she mumbled.

"Interesting choice."

"Can you keep a secret?" Then she thought of how Scorpius had said those exact words in the pantry and blushed. It seemed like he thought about it too—at least, he blushed and nodded, staring at his hands.

"My aunt Ginny was possessed once and the way she described it, random gaps in her memory…I've been experiencing it too. I thought I ought to look into it, at least. I'd prefer being possessed to having a brain tumor, which is the other likely cause. You don't think I'm insane, do you?"

"Not at all." But Scorpius did look thoroughly disturbed. "I'm sure you don't have a brain tumor. And you're not possessed. I-I don't know what it is, but it's probably not that. You'll be fine." He waved an awkward goodbye and spun on his heel, leaving the library without looking back.


	17. Return

Scorpius couldn't eat, couldn't sleep. He had a job to do. The sooner he got it done the better. The only problem was he had no idea how to go about it.

After his little chat with Rose in the library, he knew he had to return her memory. It was going to be the most awkward, embarrassing encounter imaginable, but if Rose thought she was being possessed, the consequences could get so much worse for the both of them. He went straight to Professor Flitwick.

"The spell to break a memory charm?" The professor echoed. "There is none. The only known way of returning memories is through torture."

"What?! I mean, interesting. That's, that's really unfortunate."

"Yes, which is why we must always tread carefully with memory charms."

"Of course."

Luckily, Professor Flitwick, being very elderly and nearly blind, didn't see the tears forming in Scorpius' eyes.

Now he sat staring at her across the library, hating himself because he knew that soon she would be in pain and it would be all his fault. He felt his eyes start to water, which was entirely unacceptable in public, leaned his head into his hands.

He breathed deep. _On three,_ he said to himself _you're going to get up, walk to the Hufflepuff table and talk to Rose. You're going to ask her to follow you. You can do this. You will do this. One...two...three._ Slowly, he slid out of his seat and stood, partially amazed at himself. _Get it together. You're a Malfoy; you can do whatever you want._

He pep talked himself all the way over to the Hufflepuff table, where the entire house stared at him with wide eyes. Except for Rose.

"Hey," she said, completely at ease.

"Hey, can I borrow you a second? Or more than a second, just-"

"Whatever you need." She smiled. Scorpius nodded.

"Good." He grabbed her arm and led her off.

"So," he began as he led her outside, "theoretically, if you were obliviated, and the only way to get your memories back was to be tortured, what would you do?"

Rose stared at him, eyes wide as the world rapidly began making sense again.

After a while of understandably stunned silence, she responded, "I'd go for torture."

"I figured you would." They stepped into the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest. "One more question. Do you trust me?"

She had every reason to scream "no" and run, but slowly, she nodded.

"More than anyone."

Scorpius wanted to kiss her then and there, but this was anything but the time. He mirrored her slow nod. "I've read up on this, I'm going to make it as brief and tolerable as possible."

"I trust you. Scorpius?"

"Yeah?

"These memories—are they good?"

Scorpius hesitated. "You seemed to enjoy them, for the most part." Rose nodded solemnly. "Okay, I have some rope in my robes, I think it may be best if I tie you to a tree, but if you-"

Rose leaned against the nearest tree. Scorpius carefully looped the rope around her and tied it loosely.

Rose tapped her fingers against the tree nervously. Scorpius reached out and held what he could of her hands.

"It'll be okay," he whispered.

Rose nodded, closed her eyes and drew a deep breath.

Scorpius cast a Flagrate curse on a fallen yellow leaf so it would burn on touch, and directed it over to Rose's arm. He laid it carefully on her forearm, right below her elbow.

Rose winced and failed to surpress a bit of a squeel.

Scorpius let it up. "The end of 4th year, there was a really bad storm. You sat outside watching it, because it made you feel brave. Who joined you?"

"I-I don't know."

Scorpius hated seeing her so scared. He considered offering to stop, but he knew she'd refuse, and he worried that merely offering reprieve may lessen the effectivity of the torture. To say the least, these were thoughts he'd hoped to never have.

He placed the leaf a little lower on her arm. "The train ride to Hogwarts this year. You left your friends for a while. Where'd you go?" Rose winced, kept her eyes squeezed shut, thinking as hard as she could.

"...I don't know."

Scorpius burned her lower, wishing he could shut his own eyes. "When you had detention this year, because you skipped class for your friend, what did you do?" Despite the fact that he was literally torturing his best friend in the forbidden forest, the 16 year old in him couldn't help blushing at his own word choice.

"I still don't know, Scorpius." Tears began to leak from her eyes out of pain and frustration.

Scorpius was crying too, and it took all he had not to run over and untie her. He decided to try a different tactic. He placed the leaf on her other arm.

"Why do you trust a family enemy and a Slytherin to torture you alone in the woods?"

This answer came immediately.

"Because you love me."

Rose's own mouth dropped and her eyes flew open to meet his of their own accord.

Scorpius smiled sadly, "Yeah, I do love you, Rose." He took a moment to keep himself from going to her. "Shut your eyes again." She did.

"When did I tell you that?"

"Last week."

Scorpius began to smile, hope trickling through him.

"Where?" Her eyes squeezed tight as she concentrated.

"In a-oh!" she said, green eyes wide and confused, but also filled with pride and mischief because _she remembered._

He went straight to untying her.

The moment the ropes fell a hand pulled him up and then Rose was kissing him.

She had him against a tree when she pulled back suddenly.

"Oh, and I love you too."

Scorpius kissed her back.

Then it was Rose against a tree, with her legs hooked around his back.

"I erased your memory without your permission repeatedly. Why aren't you mad?"

She kissed him once more. "The past five years, I always felt like I should hate you. But I never did. I can't be mad at you." Another kiss. "I know you too well, I know you were scared. It sucked and if you try it again I'll beat you up," another, "but I'm not actually mad, so I'm not going to pretend to be for the sake of logic."

He kissed her hard.

"I love you. I swear, your mind is untouchable from now on."

She laughed a bit. "One more thing."

"Anything."

"Stop obliviating yourself to reread To Kill a Mockingbird. It's not safe."

"Good thinking."

"I usually do."

They laughed and kissed and laughed.

"I lied." Rose whispered, even though nobody was around. "One more thing."

"I'm not sure how to get you the moon, but I know people—or at least my mom does— _and_ I'm Slytherin. We usually get what we want."

"I don't want the moon. I want you to take me to the winter ball."

"As you wish."


	18. Dance

Rose may not be Ravenclaw, but she was fairly clever and decently creative, so she owled Uncle George a few days after regaining her memories. Once he'd sent back the temporary tattooing paint she'd requested, she set to painting brown leaves over three of the leaf burns on her arm. The last burn she covered with a heart the color of her hair. Exceedingly proud of herself, she wrote one word on each leaf—Hail, Rain, Sunshine. On the heart she wrote "looking forward".

So then she wouldn't be stuck wearing robes and other long sleeved shirts for who knew how long, and most importantly for the moment, she didn't have to wear a long sleeved dress to the dance. It may be winter, but Hogwarts was kept warm enough for an actual dress.

Rose's 'actual dress' of choice was honey yellow and knee length, with a belt that matched her leaves and no matter how many times she told herself it shouldn't matter, she couldn't help loving the way Scorpius looked at her when he saw her in it.

"You- you- um," Scorpius smiled a bit sheepishly. "Pretty. Me thinks pretty."

"Thank you very much. Me is just glad you didn't try to come pick me up at the dorm. It's already been established that _I_ don't mind the smell of vinegar, but it might have been vaguely inappropriate for a dance."

Scorpius took her hand and they began walking towards the great hall. "Ooh, that's a problem. Albus asked me earlier if his vinegar cologne was appropriate and I told him to go for it. We may end up having to ditch the ball and give him a bath."

"Can't. Eva is going to be attached to him like a leech. We'll never get him away."

"Well then I'll just have to apologize to Eva later."

Rose laughed. "So Albus isn't giving you a hard time?"

"Oh, he gave me a long talking-to, but that's a good thing. I wouldn't expect any less. We're good."

"Uggh, how long? Don't sugarcoat it."

"I swear, I sat in that library for no longer than an hour and a half."

Rose threw her head back and laughed so hard the group of third year girls fussing over hair actually turned to stare. "Uugh, I'm so sorry. I can beat him up for you if you want."

Now Scorpius laughed. "Can you now?"

"Maybe."

Scorpius pecked her on the cheek. "I really didn't mind. We both just want you to be happy."

"Aaaw, my sweet little boys. I'll bake you into cookies and sell you for charity."

"That is a morbidly philanthropic thought which would hopefully only ever occur to you, because if there's an army of morbid charity workers out there, we're all screwed."

"You're not supposed to know about them. I'm going to have to obliviate you."

"Uuuggh, not this again!"

They walked into the Great Hall laughing.

It was lit with hundreds of candles floating around the ceiling and in the Christmas trees, which were covered in popcorn strings and floating balls of light.

"Care to dance?" Scorpius whispered in her ear.

"Maybe," she whispered back with a smile.

The dances started off fairly fast, and kids were still filing in, so there was room for Scorpius to spin Rose and make her giggle.

"Hey," said Scorpius. "I just noticed your leaves, very clever."

Rose beamed and held her arms out so he could read them.

Slowly, he took in the words, softly rubbed his thumb over each, lingering on the "looking forward".

"Very, very clever," he mumbled, before kissing her softly on the lips.

"There's a solution I have to apply before it will come off. I don't know how long the burns will last, but I'm considering just keeping it permanently. "

Scorpius beamed and spun her again.

"Good thinking."

"So I was thinking earlier—"

"And it has been proven that you're good at that."

"You'll come visit me over the break, right?"

Scorpius hesitated. "Do you think that's wise?"

"Probably. You'll have to meet my family eventually. And Dad's gonna hear about it as soon as we get home, so it's best for him to meet the charming Scorpius Malfoy before he gets to think too hard about us dating. Really, it'll be fine. You'll charm the socks off him."

"Alright," Scorpius conceded. "And afterwards if I'm still alive you can come see my place. They'll love you."

"Doesn't everyone?" Scorpius laughed.

The music slowed to a waltz, and Scorpius pulled Rose closer. Every student in Hogwarts was now in the Great Hall staring at the anomaly they'd only heard about in the last few weeks. Everyone knew they were dating, but few had actually seen it as blatantly as now, with Rose and Scorpius dancing happily, in violation of the "arm's length apart" rule by more than an arm's length.

"I almost feel bad," Rose whispered, "They're wasting a perfectly good dance staring at us. It's because my legs are just too distracting."

"Mmhm."

Rose kicked him with one of her distracting legs. "I was being sarcastic."

"Oh well in that case I was too." Rose tried not to laugh. Scorpius kept whispering. "That's their problem though. I couldn't care less. Does it bother you?"

"No, I'm fantastic." Rose smiled at him and could tell that it relaxed him.

Over the next few slow songs though, Rose could tell Scorpius was growing uncomfortable.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, of course, it's just a little crowded."

"I thought the looks weren't bothering you."

"They're not, I just don't really like...people. I'm not used to crowds."

"Aaaaww." Rose kissed his cheek. "You wanna sneak outside?"

"But you're enjoying this."

"I'm enjoying dancing with you. Let's go."

They started outside to the field where they first kissed only to find it was hailing.

"That's so weird. I guess the Great Hall ceiling doesn't show hail."

"It would have ruined the mood."

"True. Parapluvia."

The hail parted above them like it was hitting an invisible umbrella as they walked across the grounds. Once they got there, they kicked their shoes off and stepped out onto the grass.

"Accio violin," Scorpius said, and a violin flew, presumably from the music room, and stopped under the awning. Scorpius charmed it to play for them as they swayed in a circle.

Rose kissed him slowly. After a while, Scorpius pulled back. "I just realized, we literally have done them all. Hail, Rain and Sunshine."


	19. Ron

**I'm so sorry I forgot to post yesterday. But this is the second-to-last chapter! Only one more after this one! Thank you so much to everyone who has favorited or followed or reviewed this story!**

"Come as soon as you get a chance, today if possible," Rose had said in the snack storage room on the train ride home before disappearing back into the crowd. So Scorpius stood fidgeting in front of his fireplace, a few hours after the train pulled into Platform 9 3/4. He had hugged his parents, told them all about the semester on the trip home, and then let them know that he would be back in a few hours.

He told himself it'd be fine. He trusted Rose. So after a deep breath, he stepped into the now green flames and asked for Rose Weasley's household.

"You're only 16; you've never had a boyfriend before, and you choose a Slytherin? A Malfoy, no less?!"

"You've never met him Dad, he's a good person. I trust him."

"Then trust that he'll still fancy you in a few years, once he's saved the world a few times, found a reliable job and bought me a new grill."

"That's not how it works, Dad. I love him."

"You've only been dating a few weeks!"

"What has time got to do with it? Besides, we've been friends for much longer."

"He's cursed you, probably. He's cursed you into thinking you love him and he's going to use it against us."

"That's a little insulting, Dad, are you implying that the only reason a guy would want to date me is to vex with you? That's not it. Scorpius Malfoy and I are in love and you're just gonna have to deal wi—"And at that moment, Ron Weasley saw Scorpius Malfoy in the fireplace.

"SEE?! NOW HE'S INVADING PRIVACY!"

"NO, DAD," Rose stepped between her father and Scorpius. "I invited him here."

Scorpius stepped out from behind Rose and extended his hand to her father. "Hello. Nice to meet you, Mr. Weasley. I didn't mean to intrude. I can be getting home if you'd prefer."

Ron shook Scorpius's hand reluctantly. "You're the spitting image of your father," he said.

"So I've been told."

"But more polite," Ron mused.

Scorpius stood awkwardly. "Thank you, sir?"

"RONALD WEASLEY I TOLD YOU TO FORGET ABOUT INTERROGATING OUR DAUGHTER AND COOK THE BARBEQUE. NOW SO HELP ME GET BACK OUT THERE AND IF I HEAR FROM HUGO THAT—Oh, hello." A lovely women with hair as wild as Rose's, whom he assumed to be Hermione Weasley, entered the room.

Scorpius extended his hand towards Mrs. Weasley. "Nice to meet you. I'm Scorpius Malfoy. How do you do?"

"Oh," Hermione shook his hand with a blush. "Pleasure to meet you as well. I'm terribly sorry for my entrance. I didn't know we had company."

"I invited Scorpius," Rose piped up from behind.

"Yes, of course, I always say this house is open to any of your friends at any point in time so. Welcome, Scorpius. I hope you like barbeque. It will be a while, though," she added with a glare towards her husband.

Rose took Scorpius's hand. "Come on, I'll give you the tour."

"Give Hugo a tour too!"

"Dad, he lives here."

"He's a forgetful boy."

"Come on, let's be babysat by my younger brother," Rose said, loud enough for her father to hear. But she was smiling, and Scorpius laughed a bit, relieved to have been accepted.


	20. Proposal

**So...**

 **This is it, the last chapter. There may be a bonus chapter after this one, if anyone is interested, but it would be set earlier in the story. But this is the last one chronologically. Thank you so much to everyone who has enjoyed this story. I hope this last chapter does not let you down.**

The day after graduation, her last day at Hogwarts, Rose woke up to find someone lurking at the foot of her bed.

She shot up in a panic before realizing it was just Eva.

"Finally," sighed her lurking Hufflepuff friend before smiling conspiratorially and handing Rose a rose.

"What's this for?" a groggy and extremely confused Rose asked.

"You're lucky you make sleepy look sexy. Get up and head outside."

Rose slowly got out of bed and looked down at the polka dot shorts and white tank she'd been sleeping in. "Shouldn't I get dressed?"

Eva pretended to consider before saying it would be much more fun if she didn't and proceeding to shove Rose out the door. There Rose almost ran into a second year she'd been tutoring named John.

"Hello John," she started before he smirked and shoved a rose in her hands.

"Have fun. I'm going back to bed," he responded and he walked off.

"Oi! Over here!" shouted Patricia Divan, who always had a knack for unnecessarily shouting across small rooms. She also handed Rose a flower of her namesake.

"I wish I was this lucky." She smiled and shoved her to the next student, another friend of hers, with another rose.

Once she walked out of the commons, she found herself following a trail of friends—Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws, Gryffindors, and Slytherins alike—all with roses. Every 20 or so someone would also hand her a basket, and so she was struggling to carry five baskets stuffed to the brim by the time she reached the small gaggle of her blood family still at Hogwarts, who were waiting near a door leading outside.

"I can't believe I'm up at this ungodly hour for you. And I can't even cover the Slytherin door in shaving cream or something to take advantage of it," said Lily, who was also in her pajamas.

"Why not?" Rose was growing more confused every moment.

Lily gave her trademark smirk. "I don't think I'm allowed to after this. See ya at breakfast." She plopped her rose in one of the baskets.

Hugo spoke next. "I'm just telling you now, I demand to be there when you tell Grandpa Weasley." He handed her his rose and walked off.

Albus smiled at her and bowed before handing his flower over.

"I still have no idea what's going on." Rose laughed. She hadn't seen Scorpius yet, but she didn't think he could be behind the floral attack; this wasn't really his style.

"All I'm going to say is you deserve this. No matter what, I'm sure you'll be happy and you're amazing." The head boy, Gryffindor Quidditch captain and future Auror kissed her on the cheek and opened the door.

In the field they kissed for the first time stood Scorpius, in a black tuxedo, holding a single red rose.

They both laughed. "Here, let me help you with those." Scorpius helped her set the baskets of roses down on the ground and took her hands.

"You're behind this?" Rose laughed.

"Well, yeah."

"But that's over a hundred people."

"They all wanted to give you a good memory of your last day at Hogwarts. Most of the school did, actually. Once word got out, I had people coming up to me left and right, asking to get up at seven in the morning on the last day of school to give Rose a rose. In case you haven't noticed, you're the queen of Hogwarts. I had to start turning people away because if every Hogwarts student had to hand you a rose, we'd miss breakfast."

"And you—Mr. 'Lone Wolf', you talked them all into it?"

"Well, as I said, it didn't require much talking."

"I love you."

"Good. And I love you. Keep that in mind."

Rose cocked her head, confused, and he continued.

"I know we're really young, but the ministry already gave you the thumbs up to be an Auror, and I start work as an Obliviater July, so I figure we don't have to worry about financial security."

Scorpius got on one knee and Rose felt her hands start to shake.

"As I said, we're really young, and I completely understand if you say 'no', but I love you, Rose Weasley. I love you more than anyone or anything else I've found in this earth and I want to spend the rest of my life with you." He pulled out a gold ring with a gem the blue of Rose's eyes. "So if that's what you want too, will you be my wife?"

"Hail, Rain and Sunshine."

They were late to breakfast.


	21. Sorting

Rose had tapped her fingers on her side nervously as that Malfoy boy her Dad pointed out was swiftly sorted into Slytherin and Albus was immediately assigned to Gryffindor. In that moment, Rose would have done anything to be Gryffindor. She worried she might be sorted into Ravenclaw—her Dad did say at the station that she inherited her mother's brains—but she'd snuck a look at the test scores the muggle school had given her. She'd had an average score, and even little Hugo could solve jigsaw puzzles faster than she could.

And she had teased Albus for being so shy on the train; what if she was Slytherin?

Rose could barely pay attention to the other students being sorted, despite her best efforts. _You'd want people to watch your sorting, so you should watch other's._ Then she realized she most certainly did not want people watching her sorting at all.

She did at least seem better off than the boy next to her. He was a lovely shade of green. Rose patted his hand comfortingly.

"It'll be okay. Our house doesn't decide who we are or who our friends are. And besides, the sorting hat never gets a kid wrong."

The boy smiled gratefully. Soon his name was called (Ravenclaw) and one by one all the children left to their tables until Rose was left standing alone.

"Rose Weasley" Professor McGonagall called with a smile. Professor McGonagall had been to her house a few times, but she knew she had to be professional, so she simply smiled feebly at her as she somehow made her way to the stool with the hat.

 _My my, this is difficult. A Weasley with a hunger to prove herself..._

 _Please, Mr. Sorting Hat, it will make my parents so happy if I'm Gryffindor._

 _And a wise mind..._

 _Albus is Gryffindor, he needs me, he's shy and I don't want him to be uncomfortable, He needs me to be Gryffindor._

 _But you understand people so well, and you have a fair heart. There's really only one place for such a soul..._

 _Please be Gryffindor, Please..._

"HUFFLEPUFF!"


End file.
